Xperi Corp. announced that the Vewd OpX, a software that helps power pay TV set-tops across Europe and North America, is being expanded to Android TV Operator Tier. 

In fact, well before Xperi made the announcement at the IBC Show in Amsterdam late last week, and even before Xperi purchased Oslo, Norway-based Vewd for $109 million in early July, OpX had been integrated into the proprietary Android TV-powered set-tops used by ATSC 3.0-based virtual MVPD Evoca here in the U.S. 

“Android TV is increasingly popular as an OS for pay TV set-top boxes, and with this new implementation, we’re excited to simplify operators’ path into the Android TV world,” Sascha Prüter, Vewd senior VP of product management, said in a statement. 

"This latest deployment on Android TV demonstrates the flexibility of Vewd OpX in enabling operators to deliver a consistent user experience across OS platforms and to manage all variants via a unified cloud management system.”

Added Mitch Weinraub, Evoca VP of product management: “For our service built on the ATSC 3.0 standard, we needed a robust, flexible solution for customizing the user experience on Android TV set-top boxes. Vewd OpX fulfills Google’s requirements for the Android TV Operator Tier, enabling easy content discovery and consumption across broadcast and OTT channels, apps, games, and more using our new receiver, called Pilot.” ■

Xperi Corp. has revealed the name of the first smart TV OEM for its new TiVo-branded TVOS -- it's Istanbul, Turkey-based Vestel, Europe's largest TV set supplier. 

That the big reveal turned out to be Vestel, which manufacturers TVs under popular Japanese brand names, including Toshiba, Panasonic and JVC, probably isn't a surprise to many industry watchers. 

Vestel already carved out an agreement 11 months ago with Oslo, Norway-based video software maker Vewd to license Operator TV, which allows its smart TVs to function in pay TV ecosystems sans set-top box. 

Vewd was just purchased in early July by Xperi for $109 million. 

"We're in a unique position to really put a product in the marketplace that meets [OEM] customer requirements, but is also best-in-class in terms of user experience," Xperi products chief Geir Skaaden told Next TV in a phone interview conducted late last week. 

Vestel will begin deploying its branded TVs using TiVo software as the main operating system in the middle of next year, Xperi said. You can see a sizzle reel for Xperi's new TiVo connected TV operating system here. 

Of the roughly 185 million smart TVs sold annually, Skaaden explained, around 100 million of those go into "high-quality" ad markets in places like North America and Western Europe.

Skaaden continued to hammer home points he'd made in an earlier interview with us right after the Vewd acquisition in early July: 

For one, smart TV manufacturers, particularly tier 2 rank and smaller, are increasingly looking for ways to bypass the hegemony of third-party TVOS giants Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Google TV/Android TV. 

These relationships, he said, often consume the brand identity of the manufacturer's TV sets, an important asset in which the TV often serves as a low-margin, or even loss-leader device, sold primarily to gain a customer relationship foothold for sales of higher margin refrigerators, washing machines and other consumer electronics products down the road. 

That calculus becomes more difficult when the consumer believes they have a "Roku TV" and has no idea who the actual manufacturer is. 

"That's why we say our TVs are powered by TiVo, they're not TiVo-powered TVs," Skaaden said. 

Xperi estimates that 40% of TV manufacturers are searching for such a flexible solution that circumvents the "walled gardens" they're being run into. 

The issue of controlling the customer relationship becomes compounded when elements like data collection and advanced advertising are considered -- especially with total connected TV advertising spending expected to quadruple in girth to $48 billion by 2027. The TiVo TVOS, Skaaden said, will provide a customizable Linux based solution that will deliver far more user control to the OEM. 

Using the brand name it acquired with its $3 million purchase of TiVo nearly three years ago, Xperi believes it can solve a key pain point for CE manufacturers that lack the wherewithal to create their own TVOS, as the largest makers like Samsung and LG do. 

"You need scale, you need reach, and you need the content partnerships," Skaaden said. "We’ve been in the [video] business for over 20 years, and we have all those relationships."

Is Xperi getting started too late?

No, said Skaaden, adding, "We've seen this movie before of becoming too  dependent on one or two companies in the smart phone industry.

"Billions of devices have been sold, but everyone who has made phones, including Samsung, has had a hard time making an economic profit," he noted. "All the profit has gone to Apple and Google. ... And we believe people are going to be reluctant to throw their hat in the ring wit these big [TVOS] platforms."

TiVo said it's ambitions are further aided by the fact that 30 million consumers worldwide already use its video software, most of via pay TV channels. 

The global economy might already be in recession. The streaming giants are getting absolutely killed on Wall Street. And absolutely nobody at this point is talking about buying a “TiVo-powered” smart TV.

But after agreeing to pay $109 million to buy bankrupt Norwegian video software company Vewd, Xperi Holdings stock spiked nearly 5% Monday.

As ESPN's virally memed — and conspiracy-minded — pro basketball analyst Brian Windhorst might ask, “Now, why do you think that is?”

Next TV wondered the same thing. So we caught up with Geir Skaaden, chief products and services officer for Xperi, as he was getting ready to fly out of LAX Monday to meet up with the Vewd management team in Norway. (Yup, they’re being kept around.)

The purchase not only brings in 275 talented, Oslo-based video software makers into the Xperi/TiVo fold, it completes Xperi's video software stack, particularly in the European region, where it sees a particular opportunity to supply Tier 2 smart-TV makers with an independent TVOS they can brand and control themselves.

“The completed tech stack gives us a turnkey solution in order to do that,” Skaaden said.

Larger smart-TV makers like Samsung, LG and Vizio, he explained, can afford to make their own TVOS, which frees them from having Roku, Amazon or Google brand their TVs and assume all the benefits of the direct customer relationship.

For consumer-electronics companies, entering the home with a smart TV is a great way to establish brand loyalty and sell consumers on higher-margin products like cheaply made refrigerators. That branding opportunity goes away when your purchaser identifies your smart TV as a “Roku TV” or a “Fire TV.”

“We’re offering them the ability to sell a TV that's simply powered by TiVo, but not a ‘TiVo TV,’ ” Skaaden said.

Secondly, controlling the gateway OS puts TV makers in control of monetization and data collection, which are other things they lose when Roku is powering their devices.

Xperi, which paid $3 billion for TiVo in December 2019, had outlined a timeline of late 2023 to early 2024 to get its TiVo-branded smart TV OS to market. But Skaaden said the company was already making accelerated progress on that effort before the Vewd purchase — it’s now going to occur earlier in 2023, he said.

Skaaden added that TiVo is still moving its OS away from Android TV and onto a Linux-based software platform.

Skaaden’s description of the market differs sharply from that of, say, Roku CEO Anthony Wood, who believes the smart TV OS market will eventually consolidate down to the big gateway controllers, with even Samsung and LG ultimately capitulating to Roku, Amazon and Google.

“We see a three-to-five-year timeline of opportunity that’s just emerging in places like Europe, so it made sense for us to invest now,“ Skaaden said, noting a very different business perspective. “We believe there's plenty of room for an independent platform.” ■

Xperi's Paleolithically slow entry into the smart TV OS business edged forward Monday, with the company announcing a $109 million purchase of Oslo, Norway-based Vewd Software.

Xperi, which had already worked with Vewd as a client, will absorb Vewd’s 275 employees into its ranks. 

“Xperi’s TiVo product offerings, when integrated with Vewd’s suite of streaming platform solutions, will help accelerate and scale the deployment of TiVo OS for connected TVs and expand our video-over-broadband offerings,” Xperi CEO Jon Kirchner said.

Technology company Xperi announced its $3 billion purchase of TiVo back in December 2019, with the aim of pairing TiVo's video UX know-how with its own inroads into the global smart-TV original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market. The aim is to compete with Amazon, Google, Roku — and now other entries, including Comcast — for “gatekeeper” status to the global connected TV living room. 

But the plan is taking a while to unfold. 

In April 2020, the combined company launched its own Android TV-based TVOS, TiVo Stream, in its own connected TV gadget, the TiVo Stream 4K, with plans to expand that software to the smart TV market. 

A year later, Xperi said it would break away from Android TV, with Google using its new Google TV to steer into the TVOS business as a competitor. And in its Q1 earnings report in May, Kirchner said that Xperi is now targeting a late-2023/early-2024 entry into the smart TV OS business. 

“Vewd’s global reach and expertise in providing support to content owners, TV OEMs, and SoC partners as they deploy middleware and OS solutions across various devices is tremendously valuable and further paves the way for additional monetization opportunities as we expand our global footprint of streaming devices,” Kirchner added. 

Xperi also announced plans earlier this year to split off its IP licensing business from its products operation. Vewd also fits into that strategy, Xperi claims. 

“The acquisition of Vewd also strengthens the growth outlook of our product business as we prepare to separate our IP and product businesses this fall. We expect incremental revenue of $10 million in the second half of this year, followed by substantially higher revenue and a positive EBITDA contribution in 2023,” added Kirchner.

As for Vewd, it’s coming off a Chapter 11 restructuring back in December, in which it traded $118 million in equity for debt relief. 

Notably, Vewd in October announced a partnership with smart-TV maker Vestel to make pay TV operator-ready TVs designed to replace set-top boxes and compete against Comcast’s Sky Glass initiative in Europe. ▪️

TiVo parent company Xperi Holding Corp. said it acquired Vewd Software Holdings Limited for $109 million in cash and debt, a move designed to bolster TiVo as a smart-TV middleware provider at a time when connected-TV viewing is growing. 

Vewd software has been shipped as part of more than 450 million connected TV devices including smart TV brands Amazon, Commscope, Hisense, Nintendo, Sagemcom, Skyworth, Sony, Swisscom, TCL, TPV Philllips and Vestel.

In December, Vewd agreed with lenders to swap $118 million in debt for equity as part of a Chapter 11 restructuring plan filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New York. 

The restructuring was expected to have no impact on day-to-day operations, Vewd said at the time.

“Xperi’s TiVo product offerings, when integrated with Vewd’s suite of streaming platform solutions, will help accelerate and scale the deployment of TiVo OS for connected TVs and expand our video-over-broadband offerings,” Xperi CEO Jon Kirchner said. “Vewd’s global reach and expertise in providing support to content owners, TV OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] and SoC [software on a chip] partners as they deploy middleware and OS solutions across various devices is tremendously valuable and further paves the way for additional monetization opportunities as we expand our global footprint of streaming devices.”

Kirchner said Xperi plans to separate its IP and product business this fall and expects incremental revenue of $10 million in the second half of the year, followed by substantial higher revenue and a positive EBITDA contribution in 2023. 

Xperi will be absorbing 275 Vewd employees and its management team will be integrated into Xperi’s management structure and continue to manage the business.

“We’re excited to join the Xperi family and look forward to combining the experience, skills and scale of both organizations to deliver new innovations for our clients,”  said Vewd CEO Aneesh Rajaram. “Together, we’re set to deliver more engaging experiences to the millions of viewers globally who enjoy TV shows, sports, and the movies they love through our platform.”  ■

Europe has suddenly emerged as the test market for how video will be consumed by pay TV customers, at least what's left of them. 

Oslo, Norway-based software company Vewd has announced a partnership with Vestel Group, Europe's largest maker of smart TVs, to make new OTT-capable sets for the pay TV market that don't need set-tops.

If the "Vewd Operator TV" initiative sounds familiar, that's because you just heard a similar scheme announced last week by Euro satellite TV company Sky and its parent, Comcast, the so-called Sky Glass initiative. 

Vewd Operator TV combines Vewd’s smart TV operating system with Vestel’s TV manufacturing, warehousing and distribution acumen. Vestel produces TV’s for more than 100 of the world’s  brands, including JVC, Hitachi, Telefunken and Toshiba. 

Vewd Operator TVs include:

> Conditional access to ensure broadcast and IP content security

> Cloud-managed reference user experience (UX) or the operator’s customized UI

> Content including premium OTT and video-on-demand, FAST channels and full support for broadcast channels

Neither Vewd or Vestel have announced any pay TV operator clients for the new Vewd Operator TV initiative. 

“By working directly with Vewd and the [pay TV] operator, we can leverage our vast manufacturing and retail distribution experience to contribute in reducing time-to-market, enabling substantial operator capex savings while delivering an experience that delights subscribers, reduces churn and improves subscriber satisfaction," said Barış Altınkaya, Vestel VP of marketing and product management, in a statement.

Added Aneesh Rajaram, CEO of Vewd: “Operators have tried different strategies to embrace Smart TV, but together with Vestel, we've made the first solution that seamlessly connects pay TV and smart TV. Consumers are streaming more and connecting fewer devices to the TV. As a result, operators are forced to fight for visibility among Smart TV apps. Vewd Operator TV ensures operators of any size can seize control from the start and win the home’s most important screen.”

Redbox Entertainment has further expanded availability of its streaming app, signing a deal to have it natively integrated into the app store of smart TVs and other devices powered by Vewd. 

The Redbox app will now be natively embedded into Vewd-powered smart TVs and set-tops sold in the U.S. Vewd, which was sold to New York-based holding company Moore Frères several years ago and rebranded from "Opera TV," says its OS and app store ships on "almost 40 million connected TVs, set-top boxes, game consoles and cars each year," with OEM partners including Sony, Hisense, Vestel, Vodafone and Swisscom. 

It's unclear as to how many of those are shipped in the U.S. But it's one more piece of niche distribution for the Redbox app, which combines a transactional video service with FAST and AVOD platforms. 

Also read: Redbox CEO Galen Smith: Why 40 Million ‘Late-Adopter’ Customers Will ‘Make the Digital Shift With Us’

Redbox, which in addition to operating its legacy business--a national network of disc-rental kiosks--is also in the process of expanding its film acquisition operation. The company is planning an IPO via special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) and is seeking to build a streaming business based on a base of kiosk users it says numbers around 40 million. 

“Vewd has a powerful platform that is used by millions of customers every day to access their favorite streaming content,” said Jason Kwong, chief strategy and digital offficer for Redbox, in a statement. “Partnering with a company like Vewd gives our consumers another easy way to access our library of both blockbuster new release movies along with a fantastic catalog of free movies and streaming channels.” 

Sesame Workshop has launched a new Sesame Street streaming app for millions of Vewd-enabled connected TV devices, including smart TVs, set-top boxes and Blu-ray players, from CE companies such as Sony, Samsung, Hisense, TiVo and Vestel, among others.

RELATED: Vewd Tunes in Smart TV OS

The app, built in partnership by Vewd and online video publisher Kaltura, features content from 48 seasons of Sesame Street as well as sections dedicated to characters from the long-running TV series, including Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster.

To streamline the process and deliver the HTML5-based app, OTT publisher Kaltura integrated with Vewd’s Snap system, they said. 

Thanks in part to Google’s Android TV, Roku and platforms from Samsung and LG Electronics, the market for smart TV operating systems is already pretty crowded. Vewd apparently thinks there’s room for at least one more.

Read More: Complete coverage of #CES2018

Vewd, formerly known as Opera TV, used this week’s CES to introduce a smart TV OS of its own, and will look to carve out differentiation with a system that doesn’t require individual downloads of apps by instead tapping into a platform that loads from the proverbial cloud. Vewd holds that this approach enables it to surface video faster while still providing a conduit to the wide, wide world of OTT services.

RELATED: Opera TV Rebrands as 'Vewd'

Among other claims, Vewd said its OS for smart TVs also provides a guide that unites VOD, live TV and thousands of apps, and will include support for voice-driven navigation. That will be matched up with a data-driven analytics platform.

Vewd did not announce any partners for the new OS at this week’s show, but promised that it will announce some soon from “leading manufacturers,” noting that TV makers/original equipment manufacturers don’t tend to discuss those details until they have a device that’s ready to ship.

However, Vewd also said that the new OS builds on its Core SDK (software development kit), which it claims has in install base of about 30% of the world’s smart TVs. So, in that sense, perhaps it will have a rolling start.

Opera TV, a company that helps OTT apps find homes on smart TVs and other connected devices, is expected to announce Friday that it has changed its name to Vewd.

Vewd is launching the new brand to coincide with the IBC show in Amsterdam, and the name change comes 15 years after it started as Opera Software and about ten months after investment holding firm Moore Frères & Company acquired a majority, controlling stake in what used to be known as Opera TV.

RELATED: Opera TV Sings a New Tune for OTT

That latter occurrence opened up an opportunity for the rebrand and for the company to distance itself as a browser company and one that is now entirely focused on OTT and its work with device makers and service providers, Aneesh Rajaram, Vewd’s CEO, said.

“Our core focus is to enable entertainment,” he said, noting that nearly 50 million devices are now being shipped each year with Vewd’s portfolio of products. Those include connected TVs, Blu-ray players and TiVo boxes, among others.

Though deployments on smart TVs remains Vewd’s bread and butter business, it’s seeing opportunities in the pay TV sector as operators use set-tops from Arris and others to deliver OTT services.

“We see significant room for growth there,” Rajaram said. “We see this [transition] accelerating in the coming years as these pay TV operators look not to launch a full portfolio of 1,000 applications, but a limited portfolio of key OTT services that complement the linear TV experience,” he said.

The rebrand also comes about as the company sees increasing competition in its core connected TV business from companies such as Google (Android TV) and Roku.

Android TV, however, is more of a partner as 95% of TVs with that platform on board ship with Vewd product because it enables a range of critical features, Rajaram said.

“We see Roku as another ecosystem that we'd love to power with many of our OTT-enabling features,” he added.